Chapter Text
Since getting out of jail, Erik had been hoping for something a little more interesting in life. But no, he was sitting in the basement of a shitty apartment building in Washington DC, looking for reports of mutants to potentially liberate or recruit.
Nothing so far, though. Since his little “performance” in the stadium and in Dallas in 1963, he would bet most facilities were him-proof so it would be unwise to go in alone without backup or assistance. And he could certainly forget Charles or any of the former so-called “X-Men”. They had gone their separate ways and it was time to move on with a new team.
He was rubbing his eyes with tiredness, practically ready to go to sleep when he picked up a local newspaper with reports of “supernatural” occurrences in a specific neighbourhood. He noted down the address before dozing off in his cramped chair, ready for a trip the next day.
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One thing Erik didn’t necessarily miss about being in prison was there weren't so many people. It almost hurt him, having gone from only seeing one person twice or thrice a day, to thousands of people right in front of him, all loud and unpredictable and so, so alive.
Metal was easier to be reintroduced to. The power at first was overwhelming, having gone from zero contact to everything he could possibly want from that, but it was a relief that he didn’t need to rebuild his strength in his abilities. That would’ve certainly ruined his plans.
Getting out of the car at the top end of the street, he took a look around. There wasn’t anything untoward at first appearance, it was simply a mundane, slightly dull, suburban road. This had been the sight of the majority of the “incidents” so Erik was betting that, if they were amateurs, they would be living nearby.
He walked down the street, checking the fronts of each house for signs and feeling out for any unusual appliances but found nothing until he got down to the bottom end. The welcome mat of the house was scorched in the middle and in the basement he could feel arcade machines and most importantly, something moving very fast.
Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.
It was like a ping pong ball.
Specifically, he could actually feel the zipper on a jacket moving backwards and forwards but that connoted a person. A mutant. Like the one that broke him out of jail with Hank, Charles and Logan. He hadn’t got a good look at him at the time but he had seemed relatively young. Capable, certainly, to incapacitate all those guards in a matter of barely a single second.
Erik didn’t know if the front door would be opened to him and preferably, he would like to see the potential mutant before making contact so he walked around to the back, to see if there was a different entrance.
The door was locked but Erik rectified that quickly and let himself inside. The second he did, he was bowled over by a flash of silver and knocked against the wall.
“Metal guy from the Pentagon?” He looked up, to see the Speedster who had broken him out of jail, glaring at him. “Why are you here and what do you want?”
“You knew I was coming?” The speedster honestly looked far younger than Erik remembered. Definitely a teenager. No older than seventeen at the most.
“I have eyes and anyone who checks out every single house on a street looks suspicious. Now answer me, why are you here and what do you want?”
He decided to go straight for it, “I’m looking for mutants to work with.”
The kid blew a big gum bubble and started munching on it noisily. He hadn’t even noticed him take out any but if a person could move that fast, he supposed, they could do what they wanted without being seen. Which made him extremely valuable as an ally. “See, if you were anyone else, I would check more but you’re kinda notorious-” He stopped for a second, wrinkling his forehead, “Wait, you’re not the naked blue lady who can shapeshift. Why was I holding your neck when we were about to get shot?”
“So I wouldn’t get whiplash.”
“Okay. Lemme help you up,” he offered Erik his hand, which was taken, “Kids, you can come out now!” Three other children came out from behind the couch, two younger teenage boys and a girl about the same age. “I’m Peter, these are Lance,” he pointed at the tall boy, “Mortimer,” the hunched over boy, “Jubilee,” the girl. “And you?”
“I’m Erik Lehnsherr. Also Magneto but I’ve put that alias to bed for now… Erik’s fine.” The way they were all staring at him was kind of creepy. “Peter, might I talk to you in private?”
“Sure, we can go upstairs,” he turned to the others, “You lot, stay here. Jubes, you’re in charge.”
“Nice!”
“Really?”
“No fair!”
Erik and Peter left the now squabbling children to go into the far emptier upper part of the house. “Is your family not home? I remember Charles mentioning your mother and sister?”
“They’re on holiday so I have the house to myself. The children came along after. Could hardly say no, right? He spread his hands out, wall to wall. “If I got so much space and they have none, I can’t say no. Sharing is caring and all that.”
“That’s… very nice. I’m here because I’ve been looking for new people to work with on the liberation of mutants.”
Peter leaned against the wall, hands stuck firmly into his jeans pockets, “Hmmm, and you want us to come onside?”
Erik hesitated. That had been the original plan but Peter was the oldest and he was barely a child and this was their own organisation. He didn’t want to take it over suddenly as some kind of dictator. “I was thinking more… an advisory role? This,” he gestured vaguely, “Is your own thing. I do not wish to change that so abruptly but I think we can help one another.”
“That sounds good. I’ve gotta lot to learn about this kinda stuff and you seem like you know what you’re doing. Shake on it?”